Smashing Pumpkins at Barclays Center

December 11, 2012

The Smashing Pumpkins were supposed to play Barclays Center on Halloween, but Hurricane Sandy caused the show to be rescheduled to last night. As usual, folks tweeted photos and added their own commentary. Fans of Post Modern music got to take in the latest version of the band – leader Billy Corgan is the only remaining original member – and had mixed reviews.

Seeing the Smashing Pumpkins now isn’t like seeing the Smashing Pumpkins in 1990. Or 1995. Or 1998. Or pretty much any other time in their 20-plus year history. Seeing the Smashing Pumpkins now is a bit like randomly running into that first love of yours from high school, but now that first love from high school has put on a little bit of weight, talks about “big” concepts like “love” and “hate” and “other bullshit” that just all sound pretentious, and still, despite being the one who broke up with you, unashamedly references the past and how good things were back then. And when you’re with this person from high school, you immediately remember: “Oh yeah. This is why we broke up. This person is a terrible.” But at the same time, you can’t prevent those old familiar feelings from coming to the surface. You get a taste of what things used to be like. You feel that subtle chemistry again. You remember the first time you kissed. You remember the first time you held hands. You remember the first time you locked eyes. Or in the case of seeing Billy Corgan walk on stage, you remember the first time you heard “Tonight, Tonight.”